Buddy Rich Has Brain Tumor

Jazz drummer Buddy Rich, who performed at the top of the Big Band circuit with bands like Tommy Dorsey’s, is at UCLA Medical Center with an inoperable brain tumor, his representatives said today. Rich, 69, is undergoing chemotherapy in an attempt to shrink the tumor, said booking agent Bill Monott.

Rich, who has performed with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Harry James, had been hospitalized in New York a month ago with what physicians first thought was a stroke. He was tested at UCLA, then readmitted last week, when the tumor was diagnosed. “They’re hoping that Buddy will be released from the hospital in a week or so,” said business manager Joan Resnick, who added that Rich “sounded much better than he had the prior weekend.”